Search

More search options

Our Requirements

We are looking for strong candidates with the following profile:

Overview
Professional Experience	All students require a minimum of two and preferably three years' graduate work experience in a finance-related role. Normally this experience will have been gained predominantly in a front office role or similar.
Undergraduate Achievement	At least a high UK 2:1 or equivalent (GPA 3.6 or higher), although a First Class Degree is strongly preferred.
English Proficiency	English as your native language or TOEFL minimum score of 110/267/630, with 5.0 in the essay or IELTS minimum overall score of 7.5, no band below 7.0
Maths and stats proficiency	A willingness to reach the necessary level of maths and statistics. Specific guidance on the level of knowledge required (pdf, 26KB).
Skills and competencies	Ambition and a willingness to work hard, as there will be a lot to cover in the programme. Evidence of good interpersonal, communication and team-working skills, in addition to numeracy, problem-solving and reasoning skills.
Three references	A supervisor reference A peer/team member reference An academic reference

Detailed requirements

Professional experience

At least two but preferably three years of finance-related work experience; this could be in a bank or financial institution, but could also be in financial accounting or finance-related legal work, or in the financial arm of a non-financial company. Normally this experience will have been gained predominantly in a front office role or similar.

Undergraduate achievement

A strong academic background; at least a high UK 2:1 or equivalent (GPA of 3.6 or higher), although a First Class Degree is strongly preferred; any degree subject is potentially eligible. We are actively looking for those without a finance background at degree level.

English proficiency

Applicants to the course need to be fluent in English and we assess fluency in the following ways:

• if English is your native language
• or you have a TOEFL minimum score of 110 (iBT), 267 cBT), 630 (pBT) and 5.0 (TWE), which must have been taken in the past two years
• or you have an IELTS minimum overall score of 7.5 with no score lower than 7.0 in each of the separate components - the separate components must have been taken at the same time and in the past two years

If you scored 7.0 on IELTS or between 100 and 109 (inclusive) on TOEFL, and you feel that you are a strong candidate, you are also welcome to apply. However, we reserve the right to ask you to either retake and improve your test scores, or attend an additional assessment conducted by the University, if we were to invite you for an interview.

We ask you to self-report your scores on the application form. If you are invited for an interview, we will ask you to bring the original English language test certificates with you.

Waivers

The English proficiency requirement will be waived, at the discretion of the School, if you have studied at a degree level at an institution where English is the medium of instruction, or if you have worked or lived in an English-speaking country.

However, even if you have been granted a waiver, you might still need to sit for TOEFL or IELTS as part of your visa requirements. If you are a non-EU student, the UK Border Agency requires you to provide proof of your English competency through IELTS or TOEFL unless you are a national of, or have studied at an undergraduate level or above in one of the following countries:

Maths and stats proficiency

The Master of Finance is open to graduates of any discipline, so long as they can show a willingness to reach the necessary level of maths and statistics. We have provided specific guidance on the level of knowledge required (pdf, 26KB) to complete the core courses taught on the programme.

For those with an advanced maths background and who wish to tailor their MFin degree towards a more quantitative direction we are able to offer some very demanding electives. Cambridge has several faculty members who are leaders in the areas of mathematical finance, advanced econometrics and computer modelling.

Skills and competencies

Ambition and a willingness to work hard as there will be a lot to cover in the course. Evidence of good interpersonal, communication and team-working skills, in addition to numeracy, problem-solving and reasoning skills. In addition, applicants must have the potential for a successful career in finance, and be willing to engage fully with the course; contributing to the student experience.

GMAT

The submission of a GMAT score is optional for anyone applying to the MFin. We assess the strength of an application based on all of the information the applicant provides us (including the application, transcripts and references). Therefore, in some cases a GMAT score can provide more information and potential strength to an application, particularly in cases where the academic score is border line for our requirements or if the scoring of academic qualifications is unfamiliar to us. However, we do not consider a GMAT score by itself as enough to accept or reject an MFin application and it cannot be presented as evidence of a strong academic record by itself. Please note we do reserve the right to request a GMAT score on the rare occasions where we feel it is necessary.

If you do wish to submit your GMAT score, you must instruct Pearson VUE to make it available to us online. Our institution code is WF1-T3-85. Please self-report your score on the application form; we will verify it online from Pearson VUE.

References

We require three references for the Master of Finance application:

1. Professional reference from your line manager/supervisor
2. Peer reference from a team member/colleague
3. Academic reference

Automated reference requests will be sent to your referees once you have input their contact details into our online application system. Please note that you must provide your referees' work email address in the contact information. We cannot accept references sent from personal email accounts. You will be able to track the receipt of your references online.

Back to top